Odyssey Launches Copper-Silver District Exploration Program in Morocco

Odyssey Launches Copper-Silver District Exploration Program in Morocco

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - Jan. 5, 2005) - Avrom E. Howard, President and CEO of Odyssey Resources Limited (TSX VENTURE:ODX) is pleased to report that the company has signed an agreement to acquire a package of exploration licenses in the Kingdom of Morocco. The Company has acquired 34 licenses totaling 392 square kilometres in a past productive copper-silver district. It is a poorly explored area that management believes may host several significant copper-silver targets. Odyssey Management spent time exploring in Morocco from 1997 to 1999 and is keen to return to such a geologically prospective region.

A total of 17 licenses in four separate blocks encompassing 232 square kilometers ("sq km") are under acquisition from the Bureau de Recherches et de Participation Minieres ("BRPM"), the Moroccan government's mineral exploration and mining agency. Odyssey has also independently staked and registered an additional 17 exploration licenses over an area of 160 sq km, adjacent to and in between two of the aforementioned BRPM license blocks.

The properties are located in southwestern Morocco within the Anti Atlas mountains, a largely dry and hilly terrain comprising Upper Precambrian volcanic-sedimentary and intrusive rocks, overlain by Lower Cambrian sedimentary rocks. Known Precambrian-hosted deposits are found in volcanic and intrusive rocks, and appear similar to manto deposits of the Mantos Blancos type found in Chile and Peru (Mantos Blancos hosts more than 400 million tonnes of copper-silver ore). Known Cambrian-hosted deposits are found in conglomerates and siltstones, and appear to be typical sediment-hosted deposits.

Table I provides a summary all of the known mineral deposits on the properties that have been acquired by Odyssey, including Morocco's largest and most significant undeveloped copper-silver deposit, known as Alous. Several other unexplored copper-silver occurrences are also found on the properties.

(i) - "Mined" means that the originally defined resource has already been mined.

+ - "Partly Developed" means that underground access portals and drifts to access the deposit have already been completed and that they remain in working condition.

Note: All resource figures listed are quoted from the BRPM files and BRGM report, referenced below, and are to be considered as Historic Resources only. Although considered reliable by Odyssey management based upon the review of the numerous publications, reports, maps and related documents referred to below, management cautions that the resource estimates are historical in nature, have not been verified by the Company's qualified person, and should not be relied upon.

The agreement to acquire the four property blocks from the BRPM entails exploration expenditures totaling US $1.45 million over a four-year period, followed by cash payments totaling 2 million Moroccan Dirham (MAD) over a further four-year period (1 US dollar equals 8.27 MAD). Odyssey will earn 100 percent title to all claims, subject only to a 3 percent Net Smelter Return royalty. Information about all of these deposits has been referenced from publications of the Moroccan Ministry of Energy and Mines and the BRPM, as well as the June-September 1998 issue Chronicle of Mineral Research & Exploration, a publication of the French BRGM (Bureau de Recherches Geologiques Minieres), in an article entitled "Mineral Resources of Morocco".

Morocco is a stable North African country with a long mining history, diverse geology, excellent infrastructure, a comprehensive geological database, and favorable mining, tax and investment laws. Odyssey management believes there to be tremendous potential in its recently acquired properties and across the country as a whole.

Gregory B. Maynard, P.Geo (Arizona) is the Qualified Person for this project, under the terms of National Instrument 43-101, and is responsible for the information contained in this news release.

The statements made in this Press Release may contain forward-looking statements that may involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations and projections. The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.